Hollywood War Stories

NEVER GET YOUR HOPES UP HIGHER THAN THE LOWEST DRAWER IN YOUR DESK

Poet Alexander Pope’s quote “Hope springs eternal . . .” sounds like something a poet would believe. Is there any craft more obscure and less appreciated than poetry (yeah, the words of Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, or John Lennon)?   I had lots of hope when introduced to the King of Disco all over Europe. He came to L.A. to get into the movie business.  

I told Jack about a script I wanted to direct and he was interested. He left town and told me he’d have the script translated into German and have “his people” in Germany read it. I couldn’t sleep at night thinking that making a film was just around the corner. Jack White and whoever his people were would be the answer to my prayers.  

In the meantime, while waiting to hear from Jack, I was hired by Maurice Tuchman, curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, to do a documentary for the museum and PBS.  Maurice and I traveled to Israel and filmed artists and artwork in museums, galleries, and artists’ studios. Just before preparing to return to L.A., I got a surprise call from Jack White. Jack asked me if I’d come to Berlin and meet with him and his “people.” He offered to fly me there first class. I told him, "color me there."  

Jack's girlfriend, a stunning former Miss Germany, picked me up at the airport and drove me to an upscale suburb and ushered m into the back house/studio where I was warmly welcomed by Jack.  He introduced me to three men in suits—accountant/lawyer types.  I greeted them in German—big mistake. Europeans don’t think Americans speak any language but English. I could have used this as an opportunity to overhear what they really thought.

After discussing the fillm, Jack drove me to a plush hotel on the “Ku’damm”—what the locals call the Kurfürstendamm, the Champs-Élysées of Berlin. After a sumptuous dinner, he apologized for having to leave but he had to catch a plane to Munich, the headquarters of his recording empire.  I  took a stroll on the Ku’damm, which was modern and beautiful. I couldn’t help thinking, This is it. Fame and fortune are just around the corner. I’ve felt them—luxury cars, beautiful women, first-class flights—all almost within my grasp. I’m going to get to make a movie!  

But I never heard from Jack White again. My lawyer told me he’d opted for financing a pirate film with a more experienced director.  The film Jack made never saw the light of day.  Yeah, I got my hopes up much higher than my desk drawers, but the lesson I learned: Keep on truckin’. You gotta reinvent yourself every time you start a new idea, act, song, video endeavor, manuscript, or movie. But continue the creative process without hoping that, as soon as you complete that screenplay, stand-up routine, song, or video, the head of a studio or record label will immediately hear or see it and make you a star. Stranger things have happened, but the probability of that is not much greater than winning the lottery. Have patience; the process is important. There’s a learning curve, a body of work to complete, and a style of your own to display.

The product will come. And maybe stardom too. As William Goldman, in his brilliant book, Adventures in the Screen Trade, so aptly put it, “Nobody knows.”